Justin Michael Saxby teaches and learns at the intersection of literature, religion and philosophy.
keywords
Pedagogy, C19 American Literature, Ethnic American Literatures, Religion and Literature, Literary Theory, Philosophy and Literature, World contemplative traditions
Teaching
courses taught
ENGL 1290 - Crime, Policing, Detection
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Explores stories about crime and policing, deviance and detection, law and order. Students will learn how genres such as detective or crime fiction or police procedurals narrate anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality. Analyzes how categories of innocence and guilt, justice and punishment, are imagined and portrayed in short stories, films, novels, and TV shows.
ENGL 1600 - Introduction to American Literature
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2022
Introduces students to the American literary tradition through intensive study of centrally significant texts and genres.
ENGL 1800 - American Ethnic Literatures
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024 / Spring 2025
Students will learn how writings by African American, Native American and Indigenous, Chicana/o/x, Latina/o/x, Asian American, and/or Arab American authors are central to the US literary tradition. The class explores the significance of ethnic US literatures and cultures through short stories, novels, plays, films, and more.
ENGL 2102 - Literary Analysis
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2026
Students will build skills in careful, detailed reading and critical writing. Focusing on poetry, prose, and plays, the course cultivates an understanding of literary forms and genres and introduces techniques and vocabulary essential for the study of literature.
ENGL 2112 - Introduction to Literary Theory
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2025 / Fall 2025
This course introduces students to a wide range of critical theories essential to the study of literature. Critical theories have broad applications because they provide ways to interpret all cultural products, including visual arts, music, and writing. We will investigate some of the major movements relevant to literary studies, which may include, for example, cultural studies, structuralism, feminisms, ecocriticism, critical race theories, postmodern theory, media theories, etc.
ENGL 2655 - American Literature to the Civil War
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2025
Students will explore chaos, possibilities, and violence in American literature as Indigenous lands transform into British colonies transform into a nation that expands across the continent, but nearly implodes in civil war. This class considers how authors struggling to define America used a rising print culture and evolving literary landscape to confront issues of nation, empire, race, gender, sexuality, religion, modernity, and industrialization.
ENGL 3026 - Syntax, Citation, Analysis: Writing About Literature
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2026
Students hone their writing skills by closely analyzing the language in literary texts. The course will focus on the nuances of sentence structure and grammar, in order to help students become better writers and readers. Students will learn how to perform research in literary criticism and will write and revise a research paper, as well as a number of other short papers for different audiences. Students will learn and use citation methods within the discipline and will discuss the reasoning behind citational practice. Recommended prerequisite: completion of lower-division writing requirement.
ENGL 3310 - The Bible as Literature
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024 / Fall 2025
No single book has been as influential to the English-speaking world as the Bible. We'll read the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament for stories, poetry, and wisdom traditions. We'll approach the Bible as literature by analyzing its plots, characters, and meanings. Students study its textual history, how there came to be a "Bible," and the many writers, conflicts, and cultures from which it emerged. We'll consider the Bible's powerful influence on ethics and philosophy. Formerly ENGL 3312. Same as HUMN 3310 and JWST 3310.
HUMN 3310 - The Bible as Literature
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
No single book has been as influential to the English-speaking world as the Bible. We'll read the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament for stories, poetry, and wisdom traditions. We'll approach the Bible as literature by analyzing its plots, characters, and meanings. Students study its textual history, how there came to be a "Bible," and the many writers, conflicts, and cultures from which it emerged. We'll consider the Bible's powerful influence on ethics and philosophy. Formerly ENGL 3312. Same as ENGL 3310 and JWST 3310.
JWST 3310 - The Bible as Literature
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
No single book has been as influential to the English-speaking world as the Bible. We'll read the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament for stories, poetry, and wisdom traditions. We'll approach the Bible as literature by analyzing its plots, characters, and meanings. Students study its textual history, how there came to be a "Bible," and the many writers, conflicts, and cultures from which it emerged. We'll consider the Bible's powerful influence on ethics and philosophy. Formerly ENGL 3312. Same as HUMN 3310 and ENGL 3310.
